Ji Sung and a Handful of Worthy Cable Dramas Get Nods at the 2015 Seoul Drama Awards

There weren’t a lot of Korean dramas or entertainers that made it onto the just released short list of nominees for this year’s 10th annual Seoul International Drama Awards, which fetes television programs from around the world in addition to homegrown K-dramas. The most notable congrats goes to the sole acting talent to make cut, with Ji Sung landing a Best Actor nom for his unforgettable performance in the MBC drama Kill Me Heal Me. Sadly no actresses from any K-dramas got a nomination this year.

For Best Drama, only three K-dramas made the list and all were from cable networks: Misaeng from tvN and OCN‘s Bad Guys in the mini-series category and Yoona’s Street on jTBC for the long series. PD Kim Won Seok who directed Misaengwas also the only Korean director to land a best director nomination, while on the best screenplay side it was writer Kim Yoon Kyung who penned Yoona’s Street that got a well-deserved acknowledgment. The only big three network drama to get recognition was the two-episode short drama Snow Roadon KBSstarring Kim Sae Ron and Kim Hyang Gi. Congrats to all the nominees, this is a list that doesn’t actually hurt my brain.

While Ji Sung may not have won the Baeksang for Best Television Actor this year, I still find his nomination a satisfying enough recognition of his effort and achievement in delivering 7 convincing characters in KMHM, and the same feeling applies here. Even if the Seoul Drama Awards isn’t all that prestigious, the Korean works including in this year’s list of nominations does give it a heightened aura of quality by eschewing the trendy popular fare for the critical darlings.

Yep. I agree with the nomination. Punch was a FAR better Drama, but as a standout performance, JS’s was remarkable, carried the Drama over its many flaws and weaknesses by the sheer strength of the way he brought those characters to life.

I think International Awards focus more on international markets. Usually sageuks have won this kind of awards before ( Moon that Embraces Sun, Horse Doctor, Princess’ Man but I’m not sure about Empress Ki, though). So, I think KMHM, Misaeng and YS were selected by the industry to be promoted to other countries.
On the othe hand Punch was a far better drama plot-wise and the ensemble was amazing; however, the posssibility of selling these kind of stories to foreign festivals might be slim. The general rule is the same everywhere: comedies, telenovelas and historical series are the most likely to appeal to foreign audiences ( apart from JS’s unique performance in KMHM, which was gloriously ignored!).

Yeah it’s nice that Ji Sung got nominated but I cannot take this awards seriously if they left out I Heard It Through the Grapevine. ..that drama was on broadcast but its quality was Baeksang standard and acting was amazing.